


Days of our youth

by reclusiveq



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 06:58:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1541771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reclusiveq/pseuds/reclusiveq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky and Steve start 9th grade and Bucky has to struggle with his feelings towards his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Days of our youth

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a bit of fluff and is mildly AU (it doesn't follow movie or comic canon regarding when and how the pair met). Writing some mostly happy-ish to offset the rather depressing fics I've already written. Hope this makes someone's day.

"...so easy to bully. Don't even know why he tries. He'll just end up an alcoholic like his old man." Bucky frowned from within the bathroom stall. He was only fourteen and hadn't quite gone through puberty yet. He and his friend Steve had just started 9th grade here, and it seemed like Steve was already a target. Well, freshman usually were, but Bucky wasn't about to sit by and listen to it happen.

He threw open the door, surprising the trio of juniors. He glared at them.

"You got a problem, pal?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, you," Bucky said.

The three older boys laughed. Bucky recognized one of them from his apartment building. He went by Trip.

Trip clearly recognized him as well and grabbed Bucky's collar. "Now listen here, you little..."

Bucky didn't give him a chance to finish. He punched the older boy hard. He knew he could get suspended for this, but he wasn't about to let them pick on Steve.

He gave it his all, but he was still outmatched, and soon he was nursing several bruised ribs. It might have gone on, but the door opened and a teacher stepped in. Trip and his gang hurried out. Bucky just sat there, embarrassed and angry.

Concerned, the teacher walked over. "You okay?"

"Fine," Bucky grunted. "I had them on the ropes."

The teacher chuckled. "I'm sure you did. What were you fighting about?"

"Nothing." Bucky stood up. "But I'll win next time." He knew he probably shouldn't be telling a teacher this, but he couldn't help it. He had to protect Steve somehow. Steve was often too sickly to protect himself, though he tried very hard to. Bucky had been raised to believe that violence was never the answer but his foster parents never had to go through what he and Steve did.

The teacher watched as Bucky washed his hands. "It's not all about beating people up, you know. It's just about showing them that you are stronger than they are."

Bucky looked at the teacher in surprise. The man looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He might have passed for someone in a gang except that he was wearing a suit and tie. He looked completely clean-shaven, but still dangerous.

"What do you mean?"

"You can beat someone up to within an inch of their lives, and all they will see in you is that you are a bully. Or you can learn to control the situation, only apply force when and where it's needed. Don't waste energy. Then you'll be able to make people back down through intimidation rather than force."

"I'm not intimidating."

"You could be. It's all in the attitude. Here. I run an after school program for kids like you. I'm very picky about who I teach. It's some self defense, and some coaching. Come by." The man handed him a card. "And get yourself to the nurse."

Bucky looked at the card, then nodded.

~~~

He met up with Steve later. He'd already determined not to tell Steve the truth of the fight. Steve hated it when Bucky picked fights with guys who were ragging on him. Bucky found Steve in the library at lunch. He slid into a seat across from him and looked at his friend for a moment. While Bucky was starting to fill out, Steve was still as thin as ever. Years of constant illness and a poor home life had ensured that Steve would likely never be more than what he was right now. 

Rather than let that get him down, though, Steve had chosen to look on the positive side, just like always. "What are you reading this time," Bucky asked, causing Steve to look up from his book.

"What happened to you?"

"First of all, I asked you first. Punk." Bucky smiled at their inside joke. "Second of all, it was just some juniors. Guess they felt the need to assert their authority. I'll be fine. It's just a couple of bruises. Maybe a black eye."

Steve looked at him doubtfully, then held out the book. "Reading assignment for English. Figured I'd get started."

"Yeah, sure you did. I bet you haven't eaten yet." He glanced around the library, then pulled out a sandwich. "Here."

"Thanks, Bucky. You know, you usually wait a little longer to get beat up over me. You should be more careful. People talk."

Bucky hid a smile. Steve always knew when Bucky was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. "Eh, let them. At least if they're focusing on me, they'll let you be. Not that you ever got less than good grades."

"What'd they say?"

"It doesn't matter. It wasn't true anyway. You going to help me with my math this year, right?"

"Of course. You wouldn't pass otherwise."

"Ain't that the truth. Oh, I won't be able to walk home with you after school today. Have a meeting with one of the teachers. If you want to wait, I think it'll only be an hour."

"Naw, I have to get home and make dinner for my mom. I'll be fine."

"Okay, I'll come by when I'm done. Let my folks know, okay? But don't tell them I got beat up."

"You know I hate lying to your mom."

"Who said anything about lying? I'm meeting the teacher about an extra class he's teaching after school. That's all."

"All right." The bell rang and both boys gathered up their things and hurried to class.

~~~

The teacher, Hoskins, lived in one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Bucky was sweating nervously by the time he stepped into the older man's studio. "Good, you made it," Hoskins said. "Didn't turn back even though you probably should have. Don't know if that makes you stupid or determined."

"Both," Bucky said, hiding his nervousness behind humor.

Hoskins laughed. "Fair enough. We're going to start with your confidence. You..."

"Babe..." A door opened at the other side of the room and another man stepped in, shirtless. Bucky watched curiously, confused. "Oh, sorry Clark. Didn't know you had an appointment today," the other man said. 

"It's fine. I'll be done in an hour."

"Got it. I'll save you some dinner."

The other man left and Bucky looked at Mr. Hoskins. "Who was that?"

"A... friend. Now, back to our session. Confidence is key. You have to move with conviction. Act like you can do anything and people will believe it."

~~~

An hour later, Bucky was headed back home. He tried to put what he'd been told to practice, and walk with confidence through the dangerous streets, but his mind kept wandering back to the other man. Judging from the looks of things, Bucky would have thought they were together, but men didn't *actually* do that sort of thing. 

He shook his head and looked around. Signs of the depression were clear and Bucky shook his head. His family didn't have it as bad as others, but it was still pretty bad. He hurried out of that area and finally made it home. He went over to Steve's first, to check on him and his mom. Steve's dad had died, and since then his mom hadn't been her best. 

Bucky remembered when he first met Steve when they were kids. Both their moms were nurses and both of them had been waiting one night for their moms to get off. It hadn't taken them long to grow close.

Bucky pushed open the door with a smile. "Steve?"

"In the kitchen, Buck."

Bucky stepped in and closed the door. The place was a mess again and without thinking about it, Bucky immediately started picking up the trash. He stepped into the kitchen with the full bag and Steve shook his head when he noticed. "You don't have to clean every time you come over."

"Just means you owe me," Bucky teased. He saw the thin soup boiling on the stove. "No meat?"

"Too expensive. So how did your meeting go?" 

"Pretty good. I'm going to keep going to the class. It's not every day. Just a couple days a week." Bucky watched Steve start to wash a couple of bowls. He had put on one of his mom's old aprons, to protect his school clothes. Bucky found himself thinking that he looked good like that, then blushed and chided himself for the thought. 

"You ever thought about what you're going to do after we graduate?"

"You mean if I graduate," Bucky said. The only reason he was even still in school was to keep an eye on Steve. Steve was only going because his mom had told him to. "And no. Probably just go work in some factory. I'm too stupid for anything else."

"Bucky, don't say that. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for."

Bucky smiled as if to show he'd just been joking, but it wasn't really that much of a joke. At least not to him. "Anyway, I have time to figure it out. I already ate, so I'll just do a bit more cleaning around here. You go talk care of your mom."

Steve thanked him and took the bowls of soup into the other room.

~~~

The next few weeks passed much the same. Bucky quickly learned the control and confidence that Hoskins was talking about and with that confidence, he found he was becoming popular with the girls. The other boys stopped picking on him and Steve (Steve mostly because they didn't want to get on Bucky's bad side). But despite his sudden surge in popularity, Bucky never stopped hanging out with Steve. Honestly, he didn't care about anyone else. They didn't understand. He wasn't sure he did either.

One day, Bucky sat with Steve in the library. "Hey, so there's a new exhibit at the museum finally. Gonna be free entrance for the first couple days. Want to go?"

"I can't. My mom..." 

"I'm sure she'll be fine for one night. I'll ask my mom to look in on her. Come on, it'll be fun. You've been working too hard. You need to relax."

Steve looked at him, then sighed. "All right. But just for a little while."

Bucky grinned, unreasonably happy, but he told himself it was just because he was glad that Steve was agreeing to do something for himself.

Saturday came and Bucky got dressed up. His mom stepped in with one of his nicer coats. "Here. Well, don't you look like a proper gentleman. Is this a date?"

Bucky blushed. "What? No, of course not."

"It's okay, James. If you and Steve are meeting a couple of girls there..."

"I promise, Mom. I'm not. I just... figured I should look good for the opening event. It's not for a date."

"All right. Well, it's okay if you decide to go on one. You're a good friend to Steve, but you need to do something for yourself too."

"I know, Mom." He didn't say anything about how Steve needed him.

He met up with Steve and was pleased to see that Steve had also gotten dressed up. They made the long walk to the museum, walking slowly so as to not exasperate Steve's asthma. They walked in silence, but it was the comfortable silence of friends who didn't need to fill the air with chatter. But Bucky was feeling nervous, though he didn't really understand why. Not fully. But he was starting to guess. 

The museum was crowded. The new exhibit, a donation from Stark Industries, was surrounded by a throng of people. Neither Bucky nor Steve could see past them so, without thinking, Bucky reached out and grabbed Steve's hand, helping him through the crowd. Steve's hand felt warm in his and he found himself reluctant to let go. He did so with difficulty as soon as they were through the crowd.

Steve was impressed. His face had lit up when he saw the exhibit. Bucky watched him with an affectionate smile on his face. Then Steve turned to point something out and Bucky became flushed. He swallowed. How could he be thinking such things about his own friend? 

Confused by his feelings, Bucky turned and hurried back through the crowd. He wasn't sure why he felt so warm. Steve was soon by his side again. "You okay, Bucky? You look a little sick."

Bucky shook his head. "I think I need a bathroom."

Steve nodded and helped him to a bathroom. Inside, Bucky checked to make sure no one else was anywhere in the bathroom, then locked the door. Steve frowned. "What's go...?"

"I like you, Steve," Bucky blurted out, before he could stop himself.

"Well, yeah." Steve laughed in confusion. "We're friends."

"No... not like that. I..." Steve stopped smiling then and Bucky stopped talking. What the hell was he thinking? How could he jeopardize their friendship like this? "N-never mind. Forget I said anything. It's probably just all the people." Besides, two men? Bucky might as well just declare themselves pariahs at that point. Nobody would ever hire them at that point. "You know how I get in large crowds."

Steve reached out and touched his shoulder. "You can tell me anything. I won't judge."

Bucky smiled. "I know. You're a good man, Steve. Never change. I just realized something, but I can't tell you what it is. Not right now. Maybe someday." Maybe someday he could tell Steve that as much as Steve needed him, Bucky needed Steve even more.

"Okay," Steve said. "I understand.


End file.
